


Apartment 303 & Apartment 305

by happyxwalsh



Series: Season 1 [2]
Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Angst, Drug Use, F/M, HTGAWM - Freeform, Hospitals, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Mental Health Issues, Mentions of Suicide, Murder Nights, Neighbour AU, Panic Attacks, Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Spoilers, season 4, with a happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-27 14:30:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13882848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyxwalsh/pseuds/happyxwalsh
Summary: Neighbour AU.





	1. Moving In

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Across the Hall](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4386551) by [jooliewrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jooliewrites/pseuds/jooliewrites). 



> This is based on an amazing book I loved by jooliewrites, make sure to check out because it inspired me to write this.

Anyone else moving from Michigan to Philadelphia would be terrified, but not Connor. He’s happy that he is finally getting away from all of the chaos. Of course, law school doesn’t exactly scream no chaos. The law student just hopes that it will Middleton will enough of a distraction from his life and he’ll forget everything or things will go back to normal, at least he hopes it does.

Apartment 305, Connor’s new place. He’s not going to call it home, that’d be too much. After all, Connor Walsh doesn’t do anything to do with love- at least not anymore. People use people, he learned that from a young age; Connor knows that he can only rely on himself.

Boxes in hand, he opens the door to his new apartment and lets his eyes glance around them. Smiling slightly at the idea of some sort of peace. However, that peace was quickly abolished when excited squeals came from the apartment next door. A little girl skipped out, with brunette pigtails, holding a teddy bear, “I haven’t seen you before, I’m Lilly,” she sweetly giggles and holds out her hand, for Connor to shake, which means he has to put down the heavy boxes.

“I’m Connor, nice to meet you,” he shakes her dainty hand and smiles. Luckily, Connor has a niece and nephew so he vaguely knows how to deal with kids, “I’ve just moved in next door.”

“Me and my daddy live over there,” Lilly points over to Apartment 303, “I’m seven, how old are you?” Connor could feel himself wanting to laugh, this girl is willingly talking to a stranger. It makes him think about what her dad is like, hopefully, he’s nothing like Connor’s. No one deserves a dad like that.

“I’m 23,” the law student felt old just saying that out loud, “I forgot what being seven is like,” he mumbled to himself.

Lilly giggles in response, “you sound like my daddy, I think you would like him. I do,” her face twists up into a cheeky smile, reminding Connor of his own niece.

“You were supposed to stay inside while I found your favourite book,” a man comes out of apartment 303, sighing in frustration. Connor’s first thought was that this man was beyond attractive, “oh, hello?” The other man is taken back by the stranger talking to her daughter.

“Daddy, this is Connor. He is 23,” Lilly proudly states, “and he just moved in,” Oliver smiles, whilst the law student continues to look awkward.

“Nice to meet you; I’m Oliver Hampton,” The older man answers, smiling, “sorry, Lilly must have interrupted your process of moving. She likes meeting new people.”

“It’s okay, the boxes were getting heavy, and I have a niece and nephew so I understand what kids are like,” he tells his adorable new neighbour, who is the best thing he’s seen in days.

”I should get Lilly to school, but I’ll see you later,” Oliver speaks in a soft, gentle manner causing Connor’s guard to slip up, letting a blissful smile escape from his lips.

“I hope you have a good day, Lilly, I’ll see you around,” Connor observes the older man’s innocent image and watches him walk into the elevator with his adorable daughter connected to his hand. He thought to himself _‘that’s what I want’_. 


	2. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The calm before the storm.

Connor and Oliver are really good neighbours, you might even call them friends. The younger man occasionally comes over for dinner and plays with Lily, while Oliver watches from a distance in awe. He finds it so precious how Connor will happily look after his child, sometimes he might even say it’s attractive. The older man is preparing dinner for them, when he can hear a conversation that spikes up his interest.   
  
“Do you think it’s weird that I have two dads?” Lily innocently asks the law student, who doesn’t know how to deal with real problems. He has real problems, he’s just terrible at dealing with them.

“No, I’ve got two dads; it’s not weird,” Oliver feels like he has go adjust his ears, does Connor actually have two dads? Or, is he just trying to reassure Lily?

“Really? You’ve got two dads, just like me?” Lily’s smile grows, warming Connor’s heart, “what are they like?” The younger man was hoping that question wouldn’t come up; he hates talking about his dad - he hates his dad.

“I don’t know a lot about them; I’ve never been close with them, or anyone for that matter,” The law student lightly laughs, ignoring how sad that last sentence he said was.

“Do you not have stuff in common?” Connor almost felt guilty how much he wanted to laugh; understatement of the year.

“It would be a bad thing, if I had things in common with them. Relationships with people can complicated, but you won’t have to worry about that. Your daddy will never let you down because  he’s a good person,” Oliver felt his cheeks warm up; he’s never felt more lucky in his entire life.

Connor feels like he has a home here. Dinner with Oliver and Lily just works; he never feels awkward, the food is amazing, and the older man makes Connor feel comfortable. He hasn’t felt comfortable in a really long time. What is Oliver doing to him?

“I have to go to my study group now,” The law student grudgingly reminding himself and Oliver; he wishes he could just stay forever.

“You’ll do great on your exams, Connor, you are incredibly smart.”

“Thank you, but I should still study. It’s better than going to the stupid bonfire tonight,” the younger man chuckles, grabbing his bag.

“A bonfire doesn’t sound too bad. If you get a break, you could go and have fun,” the hacker suggested, watching Connor head over to the door.

“Maybe, I think I’ll focus on my exams first,” they both quietly laugh, so they don’t disturb Lily who’s trying to go to sleep.

Oliver looks out the window, seeing the younger man drive away in his car. He didn’t know it then but he was about to see a whole new side to Connor and he wasn’t even ready for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you all think of the finale? Connor is so precious; every time he comes on the screen, I want to hug him.


	3. Fragile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night Sam Keating was murdered and Oliver is comforting Connor.

Rustling around the kitchen at 6am, Oliver is trying to figure out what he could make for Lily’s lunch. Although, the only thing he can think about is Connor. He’s worried; the younger man should have been home hours ago, and yet there is no sign of him. Surely, he must just be overthinking. Connor has to be okay, he just has to be.

A couple of minutes later, when he hears the sound of a key trying to open a door, the older man is practically sighing of relief. For some reason, he felt incredibly protective of Connor. It’s like Oliver knows, deep down, that this law student needs someone to protect and care for him. Scary how accurate that thought is, right?

Oliver opens his door and peeks out to see Connor standing there fumbling with his house key. “Hey, thought I heard you, what you doing back so late?” The older man softly whispers, stepping out of the door frame a bit. After hearing Oliver’s voice, the younger man turns around revealing his hollow eyes, “oh my god, what’s wrong?” Oliver asks, terrified of the answer. Connor glances into his neighbour’s eyes and bursts out crying then and there. Without a second thought, he rushes over to be by the law student’s side watching him fall apart,” it’s okay. It’s okay, what happened?”

“I screwed up, Oliver. I screwed up so bad,” before he knew it, Connor starts having a panic attack right in front of him. His heart aches to see this fragile soul break before his very eyes; it’s harder to see it and not know what to do. Almost like he’s terrified of making one wrong move and hurting Connor more.

“Uh, Connor? Just breathe, it’s okay. You’re safe here with me, got it? Nothing and no one can hurt you as long I’m here,” Oliver sympathises, pulling Connor into a tight hold. What the older man’s clueless about is that the only person that could hurt Connor is Connor himself; it’s cute how he doesn’t have any idea how messy this law student’s mind actually is.

They both sit there for what feels like hours, wrapped up together, not really knowing what say. Connor can barely make out a sentence and all Oliver wants to do is ask him what the hell happened to him. There are so many questions running through Oliver’s head that he barely notices Connor tightening his grip on him like he needs his comfort more than oxygen. “Maybe we should get you inside your apartment so you can get some sleep, okay?” The law student stiffly nods, letting Oliver help him up and into his own bed.

As Connor snuggles further in his sheets, he focuses on his neighbour with glassy eyes. For a while, he wonders how one person could be this pure of heart. Everyone he meets let’s him down, yet, Oliver’s different. There is nothing evil about him and that’s so damn rare nowadays. Oh no. Could it be? Connor Walsh trusts someone? Now _that_ is rare.

“Will you be okay? If you want, I can stay for a little while,” the older man’s gentle voice soothes all the lingering panic Connor has, making a faint smile appear on his face.

“No, go home. I’ll be okay, even if it doesn’t feel that way. All I want to do is sleep, but thank you,” for a moment, Oliver looks like he wants to say something to assure Connor that he’s always there if needed. Instead, he walks away. Leaving the younger man to cry himself to sleep.

Staring up at the bronze ‘305’, he stops himself from running back to him because Oliver knows that he shouldn’t go, but the caring neighbour returns to his home. A part of him knew that this wouldn’t be the end of this bizarre night. What confused Oliver the most is how pained Connor sounded. It was like he got crushed by the weight of the entire world’s problems and he couldn’t see a way out of the darkness, or maybe he was curious about how someone can go from confidence to a complete broken mess. Then, Oliver realised something; Connor has always been this way, but how? He must figure it out, hopefully, the older man doesn’t find out something he’ll regret.


	4. Perfection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of last chapter.

Lily is bouncing around Oliver’s legs because she’s finally seeing her other dad, after months of being apart. The break up has been hard on Lily the most, things were normal and then they were just destroyed. She still has no idea what’s going on, like someone else she knows.

Oliver has a million and one things to do, but his only focus is Connor. He’s been meaning to check in, except he isn’t sure how to. After what happened last night, that confident man is gone and replaced with a vulnerable soul. Everything’s changed and out of sorts. What ever that was so bad to cause that sort of reaction- Connor didn’t deserve it.

Playful knocks arrive at his door, his ex is here... great. The older man takes a deep breath and opens the door. “Adam, hey. Come on in; Lily should be ready in a minute,” behind Adam is a man he’s never seen before knocking on Connor’s door and calling out for him, “one second,” he cautiously walked over to this mystery guy, “I’m a friend of Connor’s, who are you?”

“Name’s Frank Delfino and I work for his boss, he in?” He speaks in a thick Philadelphia accent.

“I’ll get his spare key and go see if he is,” Oliver quickly grabs Connor’s key and heads into his apartment, closing the door behind him. All the curtains are shut and the light are off; complete darkness. In the corner of his eye, the older man swears he saw a few pill bottles but ignores that concern for later. “Connor?” He finds him staring up at the ceiling, like all hope was lost.

“Ollie, hey,” The law student roughly replied, trying to let go of the fact that it’s blatantly obvious that he’s been crying the past few hours.

“I know it’s dumb to ask if you’re okay because you’re clearly not, but are you? Are you okay?”

“Not even in the slightest... doesn’t really matter though. I still have to go to work,” he gets up and picks up a grey sweater on the chest of drawers. Oliver feels his cheeks heat up, at the sight of Connor shirtless; how is it that the vulnerable man can make sadness look so... _perfect_?

Connor doesn’t utter another word and heads to Frank outside his apartment. “Sorry, I overslept last night. Studying was harder than I expected,” though he’d never admit it, it terrifies him how well lies roll of his tongue. I guess it’s in his DNA.

“Connor!” Lily runs out and hugs him, lifting her leg up slightly in pure happiness. She even brings a stiff smile to his face. “Daddy, come meet Connor!”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Adam,” the law student observes this guy; he has honey blond hair, pale green eyes, and is slightly shorter than Oliver; fairly attractive, but not as much as- _‘he’s your neighbour, Connor, stop it’_

“I’m Connor. I should really get going to work, but it was nice meeting you,” Oliver watches him walk away, with a smile on his face. He thought to himself _‘one day, I’ll figure you out.’_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you all think? Some good stuff is coming up... teehee. Also sorry if this wasn’t amazing, I’m really tired...


	5. Haunted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor thanks Oliver for last night.

Connor drags his feet into the elevator of his building and presses the button to take him to the third floor. His mind is a mess; he can’t seem to grasp how everything went so wrong. If Oliver wasn’t there last night, he probably would have gone crazy and done something stupid. Loneliness can make people do desperate things, especially when fear is added into the equation. In that moment, Connor felt alone. Just like he does now.

“Connor-“ Oliver whispers, trying to not scare him. At this point, the older man is intensely concerned that if the law student isn’t treated with care he’ll burst into flames.

“Oh, uh, Ollie. Hey,” his mouth curves into a smile, “listen... I’m really sorry for last night, things got complicated and I didn’t handle it well. I can’t tell you the specifics, but thank you internally for being there when I needed you,” he goes over to his neighbour and gives him a small thank you hug.

Connor pulls back and heads into his apartment, stiffly smiling over his shoulder to Oliver before closing the door behind him. As soon as that door shuts, all of the light is gone and darkness surrounds him. Everything hits him at once, he actually helped cover up a murder and he can’t do anything to fix that.

The younger man makes his way to his bed and sits down, letting all his thoughts consume him. While his heart fills with hurt, he allows a tear to fall down his face. And another one, and another one. Until, they are staining his cheeks. He collapses backwards, covering his mouth so his sobs won’t be heard. Connor knows that if Oliver realises he’s crying he’d be over there in a second. So, he stays quiet and keeps all the sadness to himself like he’s done his whole life.

Except this time, Connor has someone that he could go to but chooses not to. A small voice in his head tells him that Oliver will hate him, if he knows the truth. The law student can’t let the only person he truly trusts see him like a... _monster_. That might be the thing to send him over the edge, and who knows if he’ll be the same after that.

Oliver goes up to Connor’s door, about to knock, but something stops him. For some reason, he freezes. He doesn’t know what he’d say to him, the older man doesn’t even know what happened to him. Connor Walsh is a mystery, and Oliver is intrigued to find out more. He’ll try to talk to him later, but this chapter in their story will just have to end for now.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being so patient with me, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I’ve worked out that there will be 30 chapters in this book so I have a lot of work to do... See you soon!


	6. Hopeful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver, Lily, and Connor reunite after Christmas.

Weeks have gone by since Oliver and Connor last saw each other. It was Christmas break; Connor went back to Michigan to stay with his sister, while Oliver remained in Philadelphia with Lily, but this didn’t mean they didn’t talk on the phone for two whole hours on Christmas Day. An hour talking to Lily and the rest with Ollie. Connor went to sleep smiling that night; his heart couldn’t be more full. He seems to have found home in these two people, and that didn’t even scare him- or at least not that much. Oliver made it seem less scary.

Once the younger man arrives to his floor, Lily and Oliver practically run out to see him. They all group hug for a few seconds, before saying hi to each other. Lily has a smile on her face knowing he’ll love his present they got him in her right hand. It’s a small trophy with the words ‘best neighbour and friend’ engraved on it. “I love this so much, thank you,” Connor opens his arms wide, making it impossible for Lily and Oliver to not hug him. They all just enjoy this moment. Time stops to capture and store it forever. After they pull away from each other, Lily skips back inside while her dad stays with Connor. 

“She’s really missed you- I’ve missed you too,” The older man blushes, creating a domino effect on Connor. The law student missed him, it’s hard to spend time away from him especially after they’ve grown so close. Being Connor, he didn’t want to admit that fact because then he’s attached and open to getting hurt again. 

“I’ve missed you too, Oliver,” but he lets himself be open for once, hoping everything will be okay. 

He _hopes_. 

_Oliver_ gives him hope.

For the first time in so long, Connor Walsh is hopeful.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s another very short one but I had a small amount of writer’s block. I’m trying to get two chapters out every month, so expect another one soon.


	7. A Bad Day Turned into a Good Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Oliver spend some time together alone.

Connor keeps having bad days lately, they keep getting thrown at him and he’s waiting to see something good happen. Luckily, Oliver is right next door. The older man has been checking up on Connor a lot, giving Connor a love he’s never really had before. No one cared for him growing up, besides his sister but she had to since their parents were never around. She’d be the one to get him to school, cook him meals, and make sure he’d take his meds. Gemma cared about him, when no one else did.

This arrangement only lasted about a year, and then Connor got sent away to boarding school. He made some stupid mistakes because everything was falling apart and his dad thought he ‘wasn’t worth the trouble’. No wonder his self-esteem is so low. Not even his own parents wanted him. He was completely alone, but it’s different now. He has Oliver and Lily. 

Speaking of them, the law student is spending time with Oliver tonight while Lily is with Adam. The younger man should be home soon, which makes him happier than he’s been for a long time. Normally, going back home means having no distractions and everything bad in his life is projected onto his blank walls, and he’s forced to look. Whereas, going home to Oliver is much better. Connor doesn’t need distractions there because he’s already so entranced by everything his neighbour does. There’s no logic behind it, he just feels that way towards him. Who knew Connor Walsh could care so much about one person? He didn’t.

When Connor steps off the elevator, he quickly rushes into his apartment to dump his stuff and change into something more comfortable. It might be slightly hard to enjoy a night away from himself, while wearing the clothes he wore for work. Work is one of his many issues, so he’s grateful to have a night to spend with someone he actually likes- instead of those psychopaths he works with. 

_Ollie 20:41_

_I’m at mine. See you soon._

Connor’s lips accidentally twist up into a smile, he doesn’t even realise until he sees his reflection on his phone screen. 

_Connor 20:42_

_Heading there now._

The younger man closes his door behind him, and opens Oliver’s . A couple weeks ago, they promised each other that they could go into the others apartment whenever- no questions asked. 

“Hey, it’s me,” Connor smiles, poking his head through the door. 

“I brought takeout home, and I was thinking about watching something called ‘The Thorn Birds’. What’d you think?”

“Perfect,” the rest of night is just what Connor wanted. He allowed himself to feel safe right by Oliver’s side, so safe that he ends up falling asleep on his shoulder. The older man saw how sweet he looked and didn’t have the heart to wake him up. 

Oliver gently places his hands under his neighbour’s face, slowly standing up and easing his face onto the couch, and drapes a blanket over him. 

“Goodnight, Connor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry these are so short. They will get longer soon. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! <3


End file.
